Touch screen hover input handling

ABSTRACT

Apparatus has at least one processor and memory having computer-readable code when executed, in a normal mode, to cause display of plural discrete items on a touch screen, and, in response to detecting a user&#39;s digit at a location hovering over but not touching the screen while plural discrete items are being displayed, to enter a zoom-pan mode and cause zooming of displayed plural discrete items and to respond to detection of movement of the user&#39;s digit to a different hover location over the screen by causing panning of plural discrete items displayed on the screen, and to respond to detection of a touch input by entering a pointing mode to prevent panning of the displayed plural discrete items with movement of location of the touch input within predefined criteria, and to cause movement of a cursor, pointer or marker as location of the touch input changes.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/421,488, filed Mar. 15, 2012, which is U.S. Pat. No. 8,654,076,issued Feb. 18, 2014, which is hereby incorporated herein in itsentirety by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to handling inputs on touch screens with hoverdetection.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

It is common for devices such as mobile telephones, smartphones andtablet computers to provide a touch-sensitive display, or touch screen,through which a user can interact with software executed on a processorof the device. Touch screens are increasingly commonly being applied tolaptop and desktop computers.

A new generation of touch screens is able to detect hover inputs as wellas touch inputs, and detect the location of the hover inputs in theplane of the touch screen (the x,y location). Hover inputs are inputswhere a user's digit (typically a finger) is located near to the touchscreen but is not touching the screen. These touch screens provide newopportunities for user interface design, better designs allowing usersbetter to control their device to perform the actions and tasks that theuser requires to be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A first aspect of the invention provides a method comprising:

in a normal mode, causing display of plural discrete items on a touchscreen;

in response to detecting when in the normal mode a user's digit at alocation hovering over but not touching the touch screen while pluraldiscrete items are being displayed in the normal mode, entering azoom-pan mode;

in response to entering the zoom-pan mode, causing zooming of thedisplayed plural discrete items;

when in the zoom-pan mode, responding to detection of movement of theuser's digit to a different hover location over the touch screen bycausing panning of the plural discrete items displayed on the touchscreen;

when in the zoom-pan mode, responding to detection of a touch input byentering a pointing mode;

when in the pointing mode, preventing panning of the displayed pluraldiscrete items with movement of the location of the touch input withinpredefined criteria; and

when in the pointing mode, causing movement of a cursor, pointer ormarker as the location of the touch input changes.

The discrete items may be text characters. Here, the method may comprisedepositing a cursor at the location of the touch input in response todetecting removal of the touch input when in the pointing mode.

The discrete items may be icons. Here, the method may comprisecomprising selecting an icon at the location of the touch input inresponse to detecting removal of the touch input when in the pointingmode.

The method may comprise responding to detecting removal of the touchinput when in the pointing mode by reverting to the normal mode andcausing zooming out of the plural discrete items.

The method may comprise responding to detecting removal of the touchinput when in the pointing mode by reverting to the normal mode andcausing zooming out of the plural discrete items to a zoom level thatexisted at the time of entering the zoom-pan mode.

The method may comprise responding to detecting removal of the touchinput when in the zoom-pan mode by reverting to the normal mode andcausing zooming out of the plural discrete items.

The method may comprise responding to detecting removal of the touchinput when in the zoom-pan mode by reverting to the normal mode andcausing zooming out of the plural discrete items to a zoom level thatexisted at the time of entering the zoom-pan mode.

The invention also provides a computer program comprising instructionsthat when executed by a computer apparatus control it to perform themethod above.

A second aspect of the invention provides apparatus comprising:

means for, when the apparatus is in a normal mode, causing display ofplural discrete items on a touch screen;

means responsive when the apparatus is in a normal mode to detecting auser's digit at a location hovering over but not touching the touchscreen while plural discrete items are being displayed in the normalmode to enter a zoom-pan mode;

means responsive to entering the zoom-pan mode to cause zooming of thedisplayed plural discrete items;

means for, when the apparatus is in the zoom-pan mode, responding todetection of movement of the user's digit to a different hover locationover the touch screen by causing panning of the plural discrete itemsdisplayed on the touch screen;

means for, when the apparatus is in the zoom-pan mode, responding todetection of a touch input by entering a pointing mode;

means for, when the apparatus is in the pointing mode, preventingpanning of the displayed plural discrete items with movement of thelocation of the touch input within predefined criteria; and

means for, when the apparatus is in the pointing mode, causing movementof a cursor, pointer or marker as the location of the touch inputchanges.

The discrete items may be text characters. Here, the apparatus maycomprise means for depositing a cursor at the location of the touchinput in response to detecting removal of the touch input when in thepointing mode.

The discrete items may be icons. Here, the apparatus may comprise meansfor selecting an icon at the location of the touch input in response todetecting removal of the touch input when in the pointing mode.

The apparatus may comprise means for responding to detecting removal ofthe touch input when in the pointing mode by reverting to the normalmode and causing zooming out of the plural discrete items.

The apparatus may comprise means for responding to detecting removal ofthe touch input when in the pointing mode by reverting to the normalmode and causing zooming out of the plural discrete items to a zoomlevel that existed at the time of entering the zoom-pan mode.

The apparatus may comprise means for responding to detecting removal ofthe touch input when in the zoom-pan mode by reverting to the normalmode and causing zooming out of the plural discrete items.

The apparatus may comprise means for responding to detecting removal ofthe touch input when in the zoom-pan mode by reverting to the normalmode and causing zooming out of the plural discrete items to a zoomlevel that existed at the time of entering the zoom-pan mode.

The apparatus may be a computing device, for instance a mobile phone,portable computer or non-portable computer.

A third aspect of the invention provides apparatus, the apparatus havingat least one processor and at least one memory having computer-readablecode stored thereon which when executed controls the at least oneprocessor:

in a normal mode, to cause display of plural discrete items on a touchscreen;

in response to detecting when in the normal mode a user's digit at alocation hovering over but not touching the touch screen while pluraldiscrete items are being displayed in the normal mode, to enter azoom-pan mode;

in response to entering the zoom-pan mode, to cause zooming of thedisplayed plural discrete items;

when in the zoom-pan mode, to respond to detection of movement of theuser's digit to a different hover location over the touch screen bycausing panning of the plural discrete items displayed on the touchscreen;

when in the zoom-pan mode, to respond to detection of a touch input byentering a pointing mode;

when in the pointing mode, to prevent panning of the displayed pluraldiscrete items with movement of the location of the touch input withinpredefined criteria; and

when in the pointing mode, to cause movement of a cursor, pointer ormarker as the location of the touch input changes.

The discrete items may be text characters. Here, the computer-readablecode when executed may control the at least one processor to deposit acursor at the location of the touch input in response to detectingremoval of the touch input when in the pointing mode.

The discrete items may be icons. Here, the computer-readable code whenexecuted may control the at least one processor to select an icon at thelocation of the touch input in response to detecting removal of thetouch input when in the pointing mode.

The computer-readable code when executed may control the at least oneprocessor to detect removal of the touch input when in the pointing modeby reverting to the normal mode and causing zooming out of the pluraldiscrete items.

The computer-readable code when executed may control the at least oneprocessor to respond to detecting removal of the touch input when in thepointing mode by reverting to the normal mode and causing zooming out ofthe plural discrete items to a zoom level that existed at the time ofentering the zoom-pan mode.

The computer-readable code when executed may control the at least oneprocessor to respond to detecting removal of the touch input when in thezoom-pan mode by reverting to the normal mode and causing zooming out ofthe plural discrete items.

The computer-readable code when executed may control the at least oneprocessor to respond to detecting removal of the touch input when in thezoom-pan mode by reverting to the normal mode and causing zooming out ofthe plural discrete items to a zoom level that existed at the time ofentering the zoom-pan mode.

A fourth aspect of the invention provides a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-readablecode, which, when executed by computing apparatus, causes the computingapparatus to perform a method comprising:

in a normal mode, causing display of plural discrete items on a touchscreen;

in response to detecting when in the normal mode a user's digit at alocation hovering over but not touching the touch screen while pluraldiscrete items are being displayed in the normal mode, entering azoom-pan mode;

in response to entering the zoom-pan mode, causing zooming of thedisplayed plural discrete items;

when in the zoom-pan mode, responding to detection of movement of theuser's digit to a different hover location over the touch screen bycausing panning of the plural discrete items displayed on the touchscreen;

when in the zoom-pan mode, responding to detection of a touch input byentering a pointing mode;

when in the pointing mode, preventing panning of the displayed pluraldiscrete items with movement of the location of the touch input withinpredefined criteria; and

when in the pointing mode, causing movement of a cursor, pointer ormarker as the location of the touch input changes.

A fifth aspect of the invention provides a computer-implemented methodcomprising:

in a normal mode, causing display of plural discrete items on a touchscreen;

in response to detecting when in the normal mode a user's digit at alocation hovering over but not touching the touch screen while pluraldiscrete items are being displayed in the normal mode, entering azoom-pan mode;

in response to entering the zoom-pan mode, causing zooming of thedisplayed plural discrete items;

when in the zoom-pan mode, responding to detection of movement of theuser's digit to a different hover location over the touch screen bycausing panning of the plural discrete items displayed on the touchscreen;

when in the zoom-pan mode, responding to detection of a touch input byentering a pointing mode;

when in the pointing mode, preventing panning of the displayed pluraldiscrete items with movement of the location of the touch input withinpredefined criteria; and

when in the pointing mode, causing movement of a cursor, pointer ormarker as the location of the touch input changes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of exampleonly, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mobile terminal embodying aspects ofthe invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating components of the FIG. 1mobile terminal and their interconnection;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating operation of the FIGS. 1 and 2mobile device in a first group of embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a state diagram illustrating states in which the FIGS. 1 and 2mobile device may reside and possible transitions between those states;

FIGS. 5 to 9 are screen shots illustrating displays of the FIG. 1 mobiledevice at different stages of operation in the first group ofembodiments;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating operation of the FIGS. 1 and 2mobile device in a second group of embodiments of the invention; and

FIGS. 11 to 15 are screen shots illustrating displays of the FIG. 1mobile device at different stages of operation in the second group ofembodiments.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments described herein relate to an apparatus configured toprovide a two-step cursor placement or selection, the first stepproviding zooming with pan ability in response to a hover input and thesecond step providing fine cursor placement or selection whilst a zoomeddisplay is locked.

Referring firstly to FIG. 1, a terminal 100 is shown. The exterior ofthe terminal 100 has a touch sensitive display or touch screen 102 withhover detection. The terminal 100 also has hardware keys 104. Theterminal also has a speaker 118. The terminal 100 includes a headphoneport 120. Other features are present but are omitted from thisdescription for clarity and conciseness.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of the components of terminal 100. Theterminal 100 has a controller 106, a touch sensitive display 102comprised of a display part 108 and a tactile/hover interface part 110,the hardware keys 104, a memory 112, RAM 114, a speaker 118, theheadphone port 120, a wireless communication module 122, an antenna 124and a battery 116. The controller 106 is connected to each of the othercomponents (except the battery 116) in order to control operationthereof.

The memory 112 may be a non-volatile memory such as read only memory(ROM) a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD). The memory112 stores, amongst other things, an operating system 126 and may storesoftware applications 128. The RAM 114 is used by the controller 106 forthe temporary storage of data. The operating system 126 may contain codewhich, when executed by the controller 106 in conjunction with RAM 114,controls operation of each of the hardware components of the terminal.

The controller 106 may take any suitable form. For instance, it may be amicrocontroller, plural microcontrollers, a processor, or pluralprocessors.

The terminal 100 may be a mobile telephone or smartphone, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a portable media player (PMP), a portablecomputer or any other device capable of running software applications.In some embodiments, the terminal 100 may engage in cellularcommunications using the wireless communications module 122 and theantenna 124. The wireless communications module 122 may be configured tocommunicate via several protocols such as GSM, CDMA, UMTS, Bluetooth andIEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi).

The display part 108 of the touch sensitive display 102 is fordisplaying images and text to users of the terminal. The tactile/hoverinterface part 110 is for receiving touch and hover inputs from users.

The touch screen with hover detection 102 may take any suitable form.The tactile and hover detection aspects of the tactile/hover interface110 in most instances utilise the same components, although they mayalternatively be separate aspects using none or only some sharedcomponents. The outputs of the tactile/hover interface 110 may take anysuitable form. They may take the form or x,y and z coordinates, where xand y are directions in the plane of the touch screen 102 and z is adirection perpendicular to the touch screen 102, so denoting hoverdistance. The z direction output of the tactile/hover interface 110 mayalternatively denote a strength or size or other scalar parameter of aninput. The outputs may also include a size or strength parameterrelating to an x,y touch input. The tactile/hover interface 110preferably is a multi-touch device, with the capability to provide x,youtputs for each of plural touch inputs.

As well as storing the operating system 126 and software applications128, the memory 112 may also store multimedia files such as music andvideo files. A wide variety of software applications 128 may beinstalled on the terminal including web browsers, email applications,other messaging applications such as SMS, IM and MMS applications,social networking applications, radio and music players, games andutility applications. Some or all of the software applications stored onthe terminal may provide audio outputs. The audio provided by theapplications may be converted into sound by the speaker(s) 118 of theterminal or, if headphones or speakers have been connected to theheadphone port 120, by the headphones or speakers connected to theheadphone port 120.

In some embodiments the terminal 100 may also be associated withexternal software applications not stored on the terminal. These may beapplications stored on a remote server device and may run partly orexclusively on the remote server device. These applications can betermed cloud-hosted applications. The terminal 100 may be incommunication with the remote server device in order to utilise thesoftware application stored there. This may include receiving audiooutputs provided by the external software application.

In some embodiments, the hardware keys 104 are dedicated volume controlkeys or switches. The hardware keys may for example comprise twoadjacent keys, a single rocker switch or a rotary dial. In someembodiments, the hardware keys 104 are located on the side of theterminal 100.

In the following, actions taken will be understood to be provided undercontrol of or by the controller 106 on the basis of instructionsincluded in software comprising one of the software applications 128 orthe operating system 126, or a combination of the operating system 126and one or more software applications 128.

Operation of the terminal 100 in a first group of embodiments will nowbe described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 3.

The operation starts at step S1, with the terminal 100 in normal mode.At step S2, text is displayed at a default zoom level. This is shown inFIG. 5.

At step S3, it is determined whether the zoom level has changed. Thezoom level may change because of an input by a user, for instance usinga pinch gesture, using a hardware key, or in some other way. If it isdetermined at step S3 that the zoom level has changed, at step S4 thezoom level is changed. If it is determined at step S3 that the zoomlevel has not changed or following step S4, at step S5 the text isdisplayed at the set zoom level. If the zoom level has not changed, thenthe set zoom level is the default zoom level. As such, FIG. 5 againrepresents the display resulting after step S5 when there has been nochange in zoom level. FIG. 5 shows a text window being displayed by theterminal 100. The text window includes text wraparound such that text onone line is a continuation of the text on the line immediately above it.In the text window shown in FIG. 5, all of the width of the text windowis displayed.

At step S6, it is determined whether a hover input is detected. A hoverinput, or just hover, may be detected in any suitable way. A hover maybe detected in response to determining that a user's digit (typically afinger) is within the sensitivity range of the tactile/hover interface110. Alternatively, a hover may be detected in response to determiningthat a user's digit has been at a certain location within the zone ofsensitivity of the tactile/hover interface 110 for greater than apredetermined period of time, which may be of the order of a fewhundreds of milliseconds. Alternatively, a hover may be detected inresponse to determining that a user's digit is within a certain range,for instance 30 mm, of the touch screen 102.

If a hover input is not detected, the operation proceeds again to stepS3. If it is determined that a hover input is detected, at step S7 theterminal 100 exits the normal mode and enters the zoom-pan mode. Thetransition from step S6 to step S7 is indicated by a transition T1 inFIG. 4.

In FIG. 4, the three states or modes of the terminal 100 are shown.

A first mode 41 is the normal/zoom mode. This is termed the normal modeabove but if the zoom level is changed at step S4 then the mode can betermed the zoom mode. The term normal/zoom mode indicates the mode inwhich text is displayed at the set zoom level at step S5, which may bethe default zoom level. In the normal/zoom mode, hover inputs and touchinputs provide responses that are outside the scope of thisspecification.

A second mode 42 is the zoom-pan mode. In the pan-zoom mode, a displayis zoomed and panning can be achieved by moving a hover input.

A third mode 43 is a pointing mode. In the pointing mode, zooming ismaintained and movement of a touch input causes movement of a cursor,pointer or marker without panning, except in certain circumstances.

As can be seen, the terminal 100 may transition between the normal/zoommode and the zoom-pan mode 42 in a transition T1. The terminal 100 maytransition between these two modes in the opposite direction on atransition T2. The terminal 100 may transition from the zoom-pan mode 42to the pointing mode 43 on a transition T3. Finally, the terminal 100may transition from the pointing mode 43 to the normal/zoom mode 41 witha transition T4.

After this, at step S8 the zoom level is increased. Here, the zoom iscentred around the location of the hover input. As such, it is the areaof the display that was displayed at step S5 that is around the locationof the hover input that is caused to be magnified. This is illustratedin FIG. 6. Here, the text at the left side of the display of FIG. 5 isshown as being magnified in FIG. 6. Parts of the display that are notnear the location of the hover input are no longer displayed. Thisincludes the right side of the display of FIG. 5.

At step S9, it is determined whether the location of the hover input haschanged. If the hover input location is determined to have changed atstep S9, at step S10 the display is panned with movement of the hoverinput location. Here, the display is panned such that the text that isshown magnified follows the location of the hover input. Starting withthe left side of the text being magnified, as shown in FIG. 6, movementof the hover input to the right results in the text displayed on thedisplay scrolling to the left so that the text on the right side of thedisplay of FIG. 5 is displayed. This is shown in FIG. 7.

Similarly, if the location of the hover input moves up, the displayedtext is scrolled down so that the text at the top of the display shownin FIG. 5 as displayed at step S5 is then revealed and displayed.Panning with movement of the hover input at step S10 has regard to theedges of the text window. Panning is limited such that the display textdoes not move beyond the boundaries of the text window. This applies inboth horizontal directions (left and right) and in both verticaldirections (up and down).

Following step S10, the operation returns again to step S9, where it isdetermined whether the hover input location has changed.

When step S9 shows that no change in hover input location is detected,at step S11 it is determined whether the hover input has been removed.If step S11 determines that the hover input has been removed whilst theterminal 100 is in the zoom-pan mode, the zoom-pan mode is exited andthe terminal 100 returns to the normal/zoom mode. In particular, theoperation proceeds again to step S5. This is indicated by the transitionT2 in FIG. 4.

If it is determined at step S11 that the hover input has not beenremoved, the terminal 100 remains in the zoom-pan mode and progresses tostep S12. Here, it is determined whether a touch input has beendetected. If a touch input has not been detected at step S12, theoperation returns to step S9. If it is determined at step S12 that atouch input has been detected, the operation proceeds to step S13.

The effect of steps S9, S11 and S12 is such that the terminal 100remains in the zoom-pan mode with the display being panned as thelocation of the hover input moves until either the hover input isremoved or a touch input is detected. If the hover input is removed, theterminal 100 transitions T2 from the zoom-pan mode 42 to the normal/zoommode 41. If a touch input is detected, the terminal 100 transitions T3from the zoom-pan mode 42 to the pointing mode 43. The pointing mode isentered at step S13.

At step S14, the display is locked. This step prevents further panningof the display except in certain circumstances, that are explainedbelow.

After the display is locked at step S14, a timer is reset and started atstep S15. Then, at step S16 a cursor is inserted at the location of thetouch input. This provides the display shown in FIG. 8.

At step S17 it is determined whether the touch input has been removed.If it is determined that the touch input has been removed at step S17,the cursor is left at the location of the touch input at step S18. Afterstep S18, the operation returns to step S5. This constitutes thetransition T4 from the pointing mode 43 to the normal/zoom mode 41.Following step S18, the text window is displayed at the zoom level inwhich it is last displayed at step S5. However, there is a difference inthat the cursor is included in the text at the location of the touchinput that was detected at step S12 and resulted in the insertion of acursor at step S16.

If it is not determined at step S17 that the touch input has beenremoved, it is determined at step S19 whether the touch input locationhas moved. If the location is determined not to have moved, at step S20it is determined whether the timer that was started at step S15 hasexpired. If the timer has not expired, the operation returns to stepS17. As such, the operation repeats steps S17, S19 and S20 until it isdetermined that the touch input has been removed, in which case theterminal transitions T4 to the normal/zoom mode 41, or that the locationof the touch input has moved, or that the timer has expired.

If at step S19 it is determined that the location of the touch input hasmoved, the operation proceeds to step S21. Here it is determined whetherthe new location of the touch input is at or near an edge of thedisplay. The display here is the locked display from step S14, and sorelates to the zoomed or magnified view. If it is determined at step S21that the touch input is at the edge of the display, at step S22 thedisplay is panned. Here, panning the display involves scrolling themagnified text in the opposite direction to the edge of the display atwhich the touch input is located. For instance, if the touch input is ator near the right edge of the magnified display, the text is scrolled tothe left. Scrolling continues until the edge of the text window islocated at the edge of the zoomed display. The speed of scrolling may befixed, in the sense that the speed of scrolling is the same throughoutthe panning operation. Alternatively, the speed of scrolling may bedependent on the elapsed time since the start of the panning operation.For instance, the speed of scrolling may increase as the time elapsedsince the start of the panning operation increases. Alternatively oradditionally, the speed of scrolling in the panning operation may bedependent on the location of the touch input. For instance, a touchinput at the very edge of the display may result in faster panning thana touch input that is near the edge of the display but further from theactual edge.

Panning in the left horizontal direction is similar. Panning in the upand down vertical directions also is similar.

It will be appreciated that the operation of FIG. 3 results in panningof the display whilst the touch input is at or near the edge of thedisplay, and that panning of the display is stopped in one of twosituations. The first is when the display is panned such that the edgeof the displayed text in the panning direction is the edge of the textwindow. The second is that the location of the touch input moves awayfrom the edge of the display to a central region of the display. Uponmovement of the user's digit from the edge of the display to a morecentral position, panning of the display is stopped and the location ofthe cursor continues to track the location of the touch input.

Following the panning of the display at step S22 or following adetermination that the touch input is not at the edge of the display atstep S21, the operation returns to step S15. Here, the timer is resetand the cursor is inserted at the location of the touch input. Theresulting display is shown in FIG. 9.

The resetting and restarting of the timer at step S15 following movementof the location of the touch input allows the timer to be used to detecttouch inputs without any change in location and having a duration longerthan the period of the timer. In other words, the use of the timerallows the terminal 100 to detect when a static touch input of certainduration is received.

Instead of resetting the timer at step S15 if any movement of the touchinput is detected at step S21, the timer may be reset only if more thana threshold amount of movement is determined to have occurred since thetimer was reset and started. This amount of movement may be calculatedin the x,y plane, or in the x or y direction. The x,y or x or ythreshold may take any suitable value. For instance, the value maycorrespond to 2 mm or a few mm. This allows the user's touch input tomove slightly, as can occur unintentionally, without the timer beingreset.

If it is determined at step S20 that the timer has expired, at step S23highlighting is started. Following step S23, a start cursor is placed atstep S24. The start cursor is placed at the location of the touch input,which is the last location of the touch input if it has moved betweenthe touch input being started and the timer expiring. The start cursormarks the beginning of a section of text that is selected by a textselection operation.

After the start cursor has been placed, the end cursor is placed at stepS25. The end cursor marks the end of a section of text that is selectedby the text selection operation. The end cursor is placed at thelocation of the touch input, which is initially the same location as thestart cursor. At step S26, it is determined whether the touch input hasbeen removed. In response to determining that the touch input has notbeen removed, at step S27 it is determined whether the touch input hasmoved. If the touch input is determined not to have moved, the operationreturns to step S26. The operation remains at steps S26 and S27 untileither the location of the touch input is moved or the touch input isremoved.

If step S27 determines that the touch input has moved, at step S28 it isdetermined whether the touch input is at the edge of the display. In theevent of a positive determination, the display is panned at step S29.This is the same as the panning of the display at step S22, describedabove. However, in step S29 the start cursor remains at the location inwhich it was placed at step S24.

Following panning of the display at step S29, or following adetermination that the touch input is not at the edge of the display atstep S28, the end cursor is moved at step S30. The start cursor is notmoved; it is only the end cursor that is moved as the touch input moves.

It will be appreciated that panning of the display at step S29 resultingfrom the touch input being at or near the edge of the display, asdetermined at step S28, causes movement of the end cursor as the text isscrolled on the zoomed display whilst the touch input remainssubstantially at the same location.

Following step S30, the operation returns to step S26. As such, once ithas been determined at step S27 that the touch input has moved, theoperation remains between steps S26 and S30 until it is determined atstep S26 that the touch input has been removed.

Once it is determined that the touch input has been removed at step S26,at step S31 the text between the start and end cursors is highlighted.Visually, the text may be highlighted (or painted) as the end cursor ismoved at step S30. However, it is only at step S31 that both the startand end cursors are fixed.

After step S31, the operation returns to step S5. Here, the terminal 100transitions T4 from the pointing mode 43 to the normal/zoom mode 41.However, here, there is text highlighted between start and end cursors,unless there was no movement of the touch input between placing thestart cursor at step S24 and determining that the touch input at stepS26. If there was no movement of the end cursor, following step S31 theterminal 100 resides in the normal/zoom mode with a cursor at thelocation of the start cursor, which is the same location as the endcursor would be if it were present.

Features described above implement a two-stage cursor placement process.In the first stage, a hover input results in a zooming in of thedisplayed text window. At this first stage, the user can pan around thetext window without placing a cursor. At the second stage, a touch inputprevents further panning around the zoomed text window, and results inmovement of the cursor. Because in the second stage the text window iszoomed or magnified, placement of the cursor at a location at which theuser desires it to be placed is easier that it would have been prior tozooming.

Moreover, the cursor placement in the second stage can be achieved as apart of the same movement that resulted in the zooming. This contrastswith prior art schemes in which zooming can be provided only by apinching movement or by operation of a separate zoom control. The twostage process of using a hover input first for zooming then a touchinput for precise cursor placement can be said to provide a result thatis greater than the sum of the constituent parts, since the two stagesmay be effected as part of the same movement of the user's digit.

It is worth noting that, when in the pointing mode, finger movement nolonger affects the (zoomed or magnified) contents of the display. Thecontents of the display remain the same as prior to when the touch inputwas detected. Put another way, the user's digit no longer causesemulation of a magnifying glass centred at the digit location; insteadthe magnified view is locked. The magnified view is partially unlockedif the user's digit is moved to the edge of the touch screen or near tothe edge, but only to the extent that the touch input remains at or nearthe edge of the display and the displayed text does not reach the edgeof the text window in the relevant direction.

Additionally, the operation described above with reference to FIG. 3allows the selection of a range of text. Additionally, the highlightingof this text is achieved whilst allowing placement of start and endcursors while in the zoomed or magnified state. Furthermore, allowingpanning of the display after the start cursor has been placed and beforeplacement of the end cursor allows text to be highlighted even if thestart and end locations are not able to be viewed within the samedisplay at the enlarged or zoomed size. In the operation described abovewith reference to FIG. 3, this is achieved by the user merelymaintaining the touch input and moving their finger to the edge of thedisplay in the direction in which the pan is required. This can be in avertical or horizontal direction, or can be in both horizontal andvertical directions. The bounded text is selected upon the touch inputending.

What use is made of selected or highlighted text is outside the scope ofthis specification. However, it is envisaged that a user may select thetext for performing a further action by executing a long press on thetext, or perhaps on any part of the display, or by pressing a hardware‘options’ key.

Similarly, the use that is made after a cursor has been placed in thetext is outside the scope of this specification. However, it isenvisaged that a user may insert text at the cursor location using akeyboard, for instance a virtual keyboard, or may delete text from thecursor location using a backspace key, for instance forming part of avirtual keyboard.

Placement of the cursor with respect to the location of the touch inputmay take any suitable form. For instance, the cursor may be placeddirectly at the location of the touch input, i.e. beneath the user'sdigit. Alternatively, the cursor may be placed slightly above thelocation of the touch input, i.e. above the location of the user's digiton the touch screen 102. The latter alternative may be preferred sinceit allows the user more easily to see the displayed cursor and itsposition in the text.

Although in the above explanation of FIG. 3 it is described that thecursor is not inserted into the text until the pointing mode 43 isentered by the terminal 100, in alternative embodiments within the firstgroup of embodiments a cursor may already be present within the text. Insome such embodiments, the cursor may remain in its original locationwhilst the terminal 100 is in the zoom-pen mode 42. Alternatively, thecursor may be caused not to be displayed whilst the terminal is in thezoom-pan mode. In either case, once the terminal 100 enters the pointingmode 43, the cursor is inserted at the location of the touch input thattriggered the transition from the zoom-pan mode to the pointing mode 43.In other such embodiments, a section of text that is already highlightedby start and end cursors when in the normal/zoom mode may be changed inthe pointing mode. For instance, the terminal 100 may be responsive toentering the pointing mode from the zoom-pan mode with a touch inputlocated near to the location of a start or end cursor by causing thatcursor to become attached to the touch input. Here, a user mayreposition the cursor by moving the touch input in the pointing mode,with fine cursor placement being possible because of the zoom providedin the pointing mode. The other of the start and end cursors may berepositioned by the user by making a similar action although this timelanding the touch input close to the location of the other cursor. Inthese other such embodiments, the locations of the cursors may have beenplaced by the user when the terminal was in a pointing mode or may havebeen placed in some other manner, for instance by placing a touch inputon a word of text when the terminal 100 is in the normal/zoom mode.

It is envisaged that the user typically will know where they wish acursor to be located in advance of making the user input. Upon making ahover input, the terminal 100 then enters the zoom-pan mode 42 andmagnifies the position where the hover input was received. Upon making atouch input, the user may fine-tune their placement of the cursor bymaking adjustments in horizontal and/or vertical directions until thecursor is at the desired location. Unless the location of the hoverinput was a long way from the location at which the user desired toinsert the cursor, panning of the display when simply inserting a cursoris unlikely to be needed. In the case where the user desires tohighlight a section of text with start and end cursors, panning of thedisplay is more likely to occur.

It will be appreciated from the above explanation of FIG. 3 that thezoom-pan mode is entered only after it is determined that a hover inputhas been detected. By configuring the terminal 100 such that the usercan predict when the zoom-pan mode will be entered, the user can beconfident that the display will be magnified for cursor placement whenthis is required. Another advantage of entering the zoom-pan mode onlyonce the hover input has been detected is that the provision of thezoom-pan mode and the pointing mode does not need to affect operation ofthe terminal 100 when zooming is not required. For instance, in theevent of a user providing a drag or swipe input for scrolling text, thiscan be achieved by the user providing the drag or swipe input withoutfirst providing a hover input. Because a hover input is not detected atstep S6, the zoom-pan mode is not entered and the user input isprocessed in some other way.

Alternative embodiments will envisaged to the skilled person.

For example, although in the above end cursor placement is provided bypanning the display at step S22 whilst touch input is still present, inparticular is present at the edge of the display, alternatives will beenvisaged. For instance, the terminal 100 may be configured to zoom out(reducing the zoom level) after placement of the start cursor and whilstthe touch input is at or near the edge of the display. Such zooming outallows a greater proportion of the text window to be displayed, thisproportion including the location of the start cursor, whilst allowingplacement of the end cursor without the user removing the touch input.However, it suffers the disadvantage that the placement of the cursor atthe desired end cursor location may be more difficult for the userbecause of the reduced zoom level at the time of placing the end cursor.

In a further alternative embodiment, the terminal 100 is configured torespond to determining that the touch input has been removed after sometext has been highlighted by zooming out and subsequently allowing theuser to select an alternative part of the text window in which to zoomto allow the user to place the end cursor. In this embodiment, theterminal 100 may be responsive to detecting that the user input remainsin the hover input position between the two successive touch inputs. Inthis alternative embodiment, the terminal 100 may display the textwindow at the original zoom level (from step S5) whilst the hover inputis present and then zoom into the additional zoom level (from step S8)once a second touch input is detected. Alternatively, the terminal 100may be responsive to the detection of no hover input after the firsttouch input to return to the original zoom level and to responsesubsequent detection of a hover input to zoom the display to part of thetext window at which the hover input is located, with cursor placementbeing provided after a touch input has subsequently been received.

The operation described above with reference to FIG. 3 solves a problemof pointing accuracy which can be experienced in some magnifying glassuser interfaces. In some such interfaces, the location of a touch inputforms the centre of a magnifying glass or fisheye region in whichmagnification is provided. However, areas of the display outside themagnifying glass or fisheye region remain unchanged. In theseinterfaces, the user may be able to see better where their user input isprovided on the touch screen. However, it does not allow them moreeasily to place the input at a desired location. This problem is solvedwith the above-described operation by the combination of zooming in thezoom-pan mode and locking of the display in the pointing mode.

Operation of the terminal 100 in a first second of embodiments will nowbe described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 10 and the statediagram of FIG. 4. Details of the second group of embodiments are thesame as with the first group of embodiments unless otherwise stated orunless there is inconsistency between operation. The response of theterminal 100 to a touch input without a hover being detected beforehandis outside the scope of this specification and is not shown in FIG. 10.

The operation starts at step S1, with the terminal 100 in normal mode.At step S2, an array of icons is displayed at their original size. Thisis illustrated in FIG. 11. Here, the terminal 100 is shown as providinga grid array of icons. The icons occupy most of the display area of thetouch screen 102. The icons are arranged in a regular square gridpattern, although other array forms may alternatively be used. The iconshere are square in shape, but they may take some other shape. The iconshere are 5 mm square, but alternatively they may be 3 mm or 4 mm or 6 mmor 7 mm square, or some other size.

Between each icon and neighbouring icons is a small gap. A backgroundimage may be provided, the background image being visible in the gapsbetween the icons. The use of the background image and gaps betweenicons provides a more pleasing visual effect and improves readabilityfor the user.

In FIG. 11, the icons can be said to be displayed at original size. Inthis example, all of the icons are of the same size, althoughalternatively some may be differently sized.

In the normal mode 41 and in the pointing mode 43 (to be describedbelow), the terminal 100 is responsive to a user input at a locationcorresponding to one of the icons to perform an action associated withselection of the icon. In the example of the icons being thumbnails ofphotographs, the action may be opening the corresponding photograph,that is displaying the photograph in a full size view. In the case ofthe icon being a bookmark, detecting a user input at the location of theicon may cause the terminal 100 to go to a web page that is linked to bythe bookmark. Clearly, these are merely examples. In the example of theicons being thumbnails of videos, detecting a user input at the locationof the icon may cause the terminal 100 to open the video on a mediaplayer application or commence playing the video. In the example of theicon being text or a graphic denoting an e-book or text document,detecting a user input at the location of the icon may cause theterminal 100 to open the e-book or text document. In the example of theicon being an application shortcut, detecting a user input at thelocation of the icon may cause the terminal 100 to open the application.In the example of the icon being a contact icon, detecting a user inputat the location of the icon may cause the terminal 100 to open thecorresponding contact in a contacts application or take a predefinedaction associated with that contact, for instance initiate a call tothat contact or open a blank message addressed to that contact.

The areas of the display 102 in which the terminal 100 is responsive toa user input may be termed target areas. There may be one target areaper icon, with an input in a target area resulting in selection of thecorresponding icon. A target area may coincide with the icon completely,i.e. the target area may be the same size and shape as the icon and belocated at the same location as the icon. In this case, the gaps betweenthe icons do not form part of any target area. Here, detection of a userinput at a location on the touch screen 102 that is within one of thegaps does not result in selection of any of the icons. Alternatively,the target areas may be slightly larger than the icons. In theseembodiments, there may or may not be gaps between adjacent target areas.

A user input in a target area may be detected typically when the user'sdigit is removed from the touch screen 102, i.e. at the time that thetouch input ceases. If the location of the touch input moves between thestarting and ending of the touch input, it is typically the location atthe end of the touch input that is deemed to be the location of theinput. Here, action is taken depending on the target area in which theuser's digit was located at the time of removal of the user's digit fromthe touch screen 102. A user input may take one of a number of suitableforms. For instance, a short duration input, termed a “press”, is oneform of input. Another form of input is a “long press”, which is a touchinput at a location for a time period exceeding a threshold. Thethreshold may for instance be between 0.5 and 1.5 seconds, typicallyaround one second.

At step S3, it is determined whether the zoom level has changed. Thezoom level may change because of an input by a user, for instance usinga pinch gesture, using a hardware key, or in some other way. If it isdetermined at step S3 that the zoom level has changed, at step S4 thezoom level is changed. If it is determined at step S3 that the zoomlevel has not changed or following step S4, at step S5 the text isdisplayed at the set zoom level. If the zoom level has not changed, thenthe set zoom level is the default zoom level. As such, FIG. 11 againrepresents the display resulting after step S5 when there has been nochange in zoom level. FIG. 11 shows an array of icons being displayed bythe terminal 100. The array includes wraparound such that icons on oneline are a continuation of the sequence of icons on the line immediatelyabove it. In the window shown in FIG. 11, all of the width of the arrayof icons is displayed. The sequence of icons is labelled alphabeticallyin this example.

At step S6, it is determined whether a hover input is detected. A hoverinput, or just hover, may be detected in any suitable way. A hover maybe detected in response to determining that a user's digit is within thesensitivity range of the tactile/hover interface 110. Alternatively, ahover may be detected in response to determining that a user's digit hasbeen at a certain location within the zone of sensitivity of thetactile/hover interface 110 for greater than a predetermined period oftime, which may be of the order of a few hundreds of milliseconds.Alternatively, a hover may be detected in response to determining that auser's digit is within a certain range, for instance 30 mm, of the touchscreen 102.

If a hover input is not detected, the operation proceeds again to stepS3. If it is determined that a hover input is detected, at step S7 theterminal 100 exits the normal mode and enters the zoom-pan mode. Thetransition from step S6 to step S7 is indicated by a transition T1 inFIG. 4.

After this, at step S8 the zoom level is increased. Here, the zoom iscentred around the location of the hover input. As such, it is the areaof the display that was displayed at step S5 that is around the locationof the hover input that is caused to be magnified. This is illustratedin FIG. 12. Here, the icons at the left side of the display of FIG. 5are shown as being magnified in FIG. 12. Parts of the display that arenot near the location of the hover input are no longer displayed. Thisincludes the right side of the display of FIG. 11. The location of thehover input is represented by a circle.

At step S9, it is determined whether the location of the hover input haschanged. If the hover input location is determined to have changed atstep S9, at step S10 the display is panned with movement of the hoverinput location. Here, the display is panned such that the icons that areshown magnified follow the location of the hover input. Starting withthe left side of the array of icons being magnified, as shown in FIG.12, movement of the hover input to the right results in the iconsdisplayed on the display scrolling to the left so that the icons on theright side of the display of FIG. 4 are displayed. This is shown in FIG.13. Again, the location of the hover input is represented by a circle.

Similarly, if the location of the hover input moves up, the displayedicons are scrolled down so that the icons at the top of the displayshown in FIG. 5 as displayed at step S5 are then revealed and displayed.Panning with movement of the hover input at step S10 has regard to theedges of the array of icons. Panning is limited such that the displaytext does not move beyond the boundaries of the array. This applies inboth horizontal directions (left and right) and in both verticaldirections (up and down).

Following step S10, the operation returns again to step S9, where it isdetermined whether the hover input location has changed.

When step S9 shows that no change in hover input location is detected,at step S11 it is determined whether the hover input has been removed.If step S11 determines that the hover input has been removed whilst theterminal 100 is in the zoom-pan mode, the zoom-pan mode is exited andthe terminal 100 returns to the normal/zoom mode. In particular, theoperation proceeds again to step S5. This is indicated by the transitionT2 in FIG. 4.

If it is determined at step S11 that the hover input has not beenremoved, the terminal 100 remains in the zoom-pan mode and progresses tostep S12. Here, it is determined whether a touch input has beendetected. If a touch input has not been detected at step S12, theoperation returns to step S9. If it is determined at step S12 that atouch input has been detected, the operation proceeds to step S13.

The effect of steps S9, S11 and S12 is such that the terminal 100remains in the zoom-pan mode with the display being panned as thelocation of the hover input moves until either the hover input isremoved or a touch input is detected. If the hover input is removed, theterminal 100 transitions T2 from the zoom-pan mode 42 to the normal/zoommode 41. If a touch input is detected, the terminal 100 transitions T3from the zoom-pan mode 42 to the pointing mode 43. The pointing mode isentered at step S13.

At step S14, the display is locked. This step prevents further panningof the display except in certain circumstances, that are explainedbelow.

At step S14, a pointer or marker is provided at the location of thetouch input. This provides the display shown in FIG. 14. The location ofthe touch input is represented by a circle with an X inside it. Thepointer or marker may take any suitable form. For instance, it may takethe form of an arrow, having a tip that identifies the marker location.Alternatively, a pointer may have some other shape or form. The mainrequirement of a pointer is that a user can determine the location towhich the pointer is pointing. A marker is a form of pointer but may notinclude a pointer icon or pointer graphic. Instead, a marker mayindicate a location by making that location appear different to otherlocations. For instance, a marker may indicate a position by providing aripple or other dynamic graphical effect that is centred on a particularlocation. Alternatively, the marker may change the appearance ofsomething present at the location. In an array of icons, a marker may bean icon that has a different visual characteristic to other icons. Forinstance, the marker icon may be differently coloured or differentlyvisually textured. The marker may have a different brightness, or haveedges with a different contrast to other icons. The marker may bedynamic in that a marker icon may change in visual appearance. Forinstance, a marker icon may flash or pulse in colour, brightness,contrast or any combination thereof. The marker may instead take anyother suitable form. If the location of the touch input does notcoincide with the target area of an icon, no marker or pointer isprovided. Alternatively, a pointer may be provided in such a way that itis clear to the user that the pointed is not pointed at an icon. In FIG.14, the icon that coincides with the touch input location is shown ashaving a different thickness frame (here, a thicker frame) than othericons.

After step S14, it is determined at step S15 whether the touch inputlocation has moved. If at step S15 it is determined that the location ofthe touch input has moved, the operation proceeds to step S16. Here, thelocation of the pointer or marker is moved along with the new locationof the touch input. Movement can be left, right, up or down, or anycombination of vertical and horizontal movement. After moving the touchinput, a different icon may be pointed to or marked. This is shown inFIG. 15, where a different icon is marked. Again, the location of thetouch input is represented by a circle with an X inside it.

After step S15 has indicated that the touch input has not moved or aftermoving the pointer at step S16, at step S17 it is determined whether thetouch input has been removed. If it is determined that the touch inputhas not been removed at step S17, the operation returns to step S 15. Ifit is determined at step S17 that the touch input has been removed, theoperation proceeds to step S18.

As such, the operation repeats steps S15, S16 and S17 until it isdetermined that the touch input has been removed, in which case theterminal 100 exits the positioning mode 43 and the operation proceeds tostep S18. The terminal 100 may not transition to the normal/zoom mode atthis stage, though.

At step S18, the icon having a target area at the location of the touchinput at the time of removal of the touch input is selected. If thelocation of the touch input does not coincide with the target area of anicon at the time of removal of the touch input, then no icon is selectedat step S18. Selection of the icon can result in some action being takenthat may depend on what the icon relates to and settings of the terminal100. Some examples are given above. After step S18, the operation endsat step S19.

Moving of the pointer at step S16 may involve panning of the zoomed partof the array of icons, similarly to that described above with referenceto the step S22 of FIG. 3.

Features described above with reference to FIG. 10 implement a two-stageicon selection process. In the first stage, a hover input results in azooming in of the displayed array of icons. At this first stage, theuser can pan around the array without selecting an icon. At the secondstage, a touch input prevents further panning around the array of icons,and results in movement of a pointer or marker. Because in the secondstage the array of icons is zoomed or magnified, selected of a desiredicon is easier that it would have been prior to zooming. Additionally,in the event of the icons being thumbnails and having some other formthat means that they are visually representative of the item that theyrepresent, the provision of the pan-zoom mode can allow the user betterto identify in a search an icon in which they are interested.

Moreover, the icon selection in the second stage can be achieved as apart of the same movement that resulted in the zooming. This contrastswith schemes in which zooming can be provided only by a pinchingmovement or by operation of a separate zoom control. The two stageprocess of using a hover input first for zooming then a touch input foricon selection can be said to provide a result that is greater than thesum of the constituent parts, since the two stages may be effected aspart of the same movement of the user's digit.

It is worth noting that, when in the pointing mode, finger movement nolonger affects the (zoomed or magnified) contents of the display. Thecontents of the display remain the same as prior to when the touch inputwas detected. Put another way, the user's digit no longer causesemulation of a magnifying glass centred at the digit location; insteadthe magnified view is locked. The magnified view may be partiallyunlocked if the user's digit is moved to the edge of the touch screen ornear to the edge.

What use is made of selection of an icon is outside the scope of thisspecification.

Placement of the pointer or marker with respect to the location of thetouch input may take any suitable form. For instance, the pointer ormarker may be placed directly at the location of the touch input, i.e.beneath the user's digit. Alternatively, the pointer or marker may beplaced slightly above the location of the touch input, i.e. above thelocation of the user's digit on the touch screen 102. The latteralternative may be preferred since it allows the user more easily to seethe displayed pointer or marker and its position in the array of icons.

It is envisaged that the user typically will know which icon they wishto be selected in advance of making the user input. Upon making a hoverinput, the terminal 100 then enters the zoom-pan mode 42 and magnifiesthe position where the hover input was received. Upon making a touchinput, the user may fine-tune their placement of the pointer or markerby making adjustments in horizontal and/or vertical directions until thepointer or marker is at the desired location. Unless the location of thehover input was a long way from the icon that the user wished to select,panning of the display when simply selecting an icon is unlikely to beneeded. In the case where the user desires to browse icons to find adesired icon, panning of the display is more likely to occur.

It will be appreciated from the above explanation of FIG. 10 that thezoom-pan mode is entered only after it is determined that a hover inputhas been detected. By configuring the terminal 100 such that the usercan predict when the zoom-pan mode will be entered, the user can beconfident that the display will be magnified for icon selection whenthis is required. Another advantage of entering the zoom-pan mode onlyonce the hover input has been detected is that the provision of thezoom-pan mode and the pointing mode does not need to affect operation ofthe terminal 100 when zooming is not required. For instance, in theevent of a user providing a drag or swipe input for scrolling throughthe array of icons, this can be achieved by the user providing the dragor swipe input without first providing a hover input. Because a hoverinput is not detected at step S6, the zoom-pan mode is not entered andthe user input is processed in some other way.

The operation described above with reference to FIG. 10 solves a problemof pointing accuracy which can be experienced in some magnifying glassuser interfaces. In some such interfaces, the location of a touch inputforms the centre of a magnifying glass or fisheye region in whichmagnification is provided. However, areas of the display outside themagnifying glass or fisheye region remain unchanged. In theseinterfaces, the user may be able to see better where their user input isprovided on the touch screen. However, it does not allow them moreeasily to place the input at a desired location. This problem is solvedwith the above-described operation by the combination of zooming in thezoom-pan mode and locking of the display in the pointing mode.

Various alternative embodiments will envisaged to the skilled person.Various additional features will also be envisaged.

For instance, in the pan-zoom mode, the zoom level may be in some waydependent on the z distance of the hover input. For instance, the zoomlevel may increase as the user's digit moves closer to the touch screen102 until it reaches a maximum level at the time where the touch inputis made, whereupon the zoom level remains constant in the pointing mode.The increase in zoom level may be continuous, in the sense that the zoomlevel gradually increases with decreasing z distance. Alternatively, itmay be stepped, in the sense that the zoom level takes one value for a zdistance in a range of z distances, and takes a different value for a zdistance that is lower than the minimum value of that range. The numberof steps of different zoom levels between the normal/zoom mode and thezoom level in the pointing mode may take any suitable value, forinstance 3, 4 or 5.

Moreover, the disclosure of the present application should be understoodto include any novel features or any novel combination of featureseither explicitly or implicitly disclosed herein or any generalizationthereof and during the prosecution of the present application or of anyapplication derived therefrom, new claims may be formulated to cover anysuch features and/or combination of such features.

That which is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:in a normal mode, causing display of plural discrete items on a touchscreen; in response to detecting when in the normal mode a user's digitat a location hovering over but not touching the touch screen whileplural discrete items are being displayed in the normal mode, entering azoom mode; in response to entering the zoom mode, causing zooming of thedisplayed plural discrete items; when in the zoom mode, responding todetection of movement of the user's digit to a different hover locationover the touch screen; and causing movement of a cursor, pointer ormarker as the location of the hover location changes or a touch input isdetected.
 2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the discrete itemsare text characters.
 3. A method as claimed in claim 2, comprisingdepositing a cursor at the hover location or the location of the touchinput in response to the detected change of the hover location ordetected touch input.
 4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein thediscrete items are icons.
 5. A method as claimed in claim 4, comprisingselecting an icon at the hover location or the location of the touchinput in response to the detected change of the hover location ordetected touch input.
 6. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprisingresponding to detecting removal of the user's hovering digit byreverting to the normal mode and causing zooming out of the pluraldiscrete items.
 7. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprising respondingto detecting removal of the touch input by reverting to the normal modeand causing zooming out of the plural discrete items.
 8. A method asclaimed in claim 1, comprising responding to detecting removal of theuser's hovering digit by reverting to the normal mode and causingzooming out of the plural discrete items to a zoom level that existed atthe time of entering the zoom mode.
 9. A method as claimed in claim 1,comprising responding to detecting removal of the touch input byreverting to the normal mode and causing zooming out of the pluraldiscrete items to a zoom level that existed at the time of entering thezoom mode.
 10. Apparatus, the apparatus having at least one processorand at least one memory having computer-readable code stored thereonwhich when executed controls the at least one processor: in a normalmode, causing display of plural discrete items on a touch screen; inresponse to detecting when in the normal mode a user's digit at alocation hovering over but not touching the touch screen while pluraldiscrete items are being displayed in the normal mode, entering a zoommode; in response to entering the zoom mode, causing zooming of thedisplayed plural discrete items; when in the zoom mode, responding todetection of movement of the user's digit to a different hover locationover the touch screen; and causing movement of a cursor, pointer ormarker as the location of the hover location changes or a touch input isdetected.
 11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the discreteitems are text characters.
 12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 11, whereinthe computer-readable code when executed controls the at least oneprocessor to deposit a cursor at the hover location or the location ofthe touch input in response to the detected change of the hover locationor detected touch input.
 13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, whereinthe discrete items are icons.
 14. Apparatus as claimed in claim 13,wherein the computer-readable code when executed controls the at leastone processor to select an icon at the hover location or the location ofthe touch input in response to the detected change of the hover locationor detected touch input.
 15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, whereinthe computer-readable code when executed controls the at least oneprocessor to detect removal of the user's hovering digit by reverting tothe normal mode and causing zooming out of the plural discrete items.16. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the computer-readable codewhen executed controls the at least one processor to detect removal ofthe touch input by reverting to the normal mode and causing zooming outof the plural discrete items.
 17. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10,wherein the computer-readable code when executed controls the at leastone processor to respond to detecting removal of the user's hoveringdigit by reverting to the normal mode and causing zooming out of theplural discrete items to a zoom level that existed at the time ofentering the zoom mode.
 18. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, whereinthe computer-readable code when executed controls the at least oneprocessor to respond to detecting removal of the touch input byreverting to the normal mode and causing zooming out of the pluraldiscrete items to a zoom level that existed at the time of entering thezoom mode.
 19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium havingstored thereon computer-readable code, which, when executed by computingapparatus, causes the computing apparatus to perform a methodcomprising: in a normal mode, causing display of plural discrete itemson a touch screen; in response to detecting when in the normal mode auser's digit at a location hovering over but not touching the touchscreen while plural discrete items are being displayed in the normalmode, entering a zoom mode; in response to entering the zoom mode,causing zooming of the displayed plural discrete items; when in the zoommode, responding to detection of movement of the user's digit to adifferent hover location over the touch screen; and causing movement ofa cursor, pointer or marker as the location of the hover locationchanges or a touch input is detected.